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2017

Mitchell McKinney and his team found that issue-based tweeting was directly related to greater knowledge acquisition, and social watching actually helps viewers solidify their beliefs around their chosen candidates.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Politics and Twitter now seem inseparable, especially with politicians tweeting increasingly to connect with their supporters. A team of researchers at the University of Missouri’s Political Communication Institute (PCI) have found evidence that social media engagement—or social watching— during last year’s presidential debates produced beneficial effects for those engaged on Twitter while watching the debates on TV.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Preliminary figures for enrollment at the University of Missouri indicate that Mizzou students are enjoying a successful collegiate career. MU began classes today with an enrollment of more than 30,000 students. This includes a freshman class of more than 4,100 students and the second highest retention rate in MU’s history at 86.6 percent. The retention rate measures how many freshmen from the 2016-17 school year are returning to Mizzou.

Prof. Peverill Squire’s latest book, The Rise of the Representative, explores the 157-year history of representative institutions in Colonial America up to Independence.

The first representative assembly in Colonial America was created in Virginia in 1619, by the corporation that created the colony, in order to serve the needs of the corporation. Peverill Squire, an MU political science professor, says the colony was not flourishing, and the corporation, the Virginia Company of London, believed that if the stakeholders—the colonists—had a say in things, colonial life might improve.

Drew Nikonowicz has been invited to exhibit his work as part of Mizzou’s total solar eclipse observation. He will present a 20-minute discussion of his photographs as part of a panel discussion from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Aug. 19 in Monsanto Auditorium at the Bond Life Sciences Center.

Photographer Drew Nikonowicz, BFA ’16, says reactions to his work often differ depending upon the age of the viewer. Nikonowicz, 24, says the thesis of his work is founded in his world view.

Jacob Burkhart and his team suggest that a salamander’s success may depend more on when it breeds than on the landscape obstacles it might face. Scientists believe that knowing the patterns in which salamanders move back and forth could lead to better forest management and conservation strategies.

COLUMBIA, Mo. –With changing environments, pond-breeding salamanders face increasingly hazardous treks as the space between breeding ponds and their non-breeding habitat widens or is degraded. A study from the University of Missouri suggests that a salamander’s success may depend more on when it breeds than on the landscape obstacles it might face.

The impact of the 1976 season of SNL on the presidential race between incumbent Gerald Ford and political newcomer Jimmy Carter is the subject of a new book written by the husband-and-wife team of Bill Horner and Heather Carver.

Politicians have been a ripe target for humorists for generations. Mark Twain, for example, quipped that “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.” Will Rogers once said, "There's no trick to being a humorist when you have the entire government working for you." As long as we have had political representatives, we have had people making fun of them. Television, however, took the art of spoofing politicians to a whole new level.

Lael Keiser, professor of public policy and administration, has been appointed director of the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at MU, effective Sept. 1. On that date, the Truman School will incorporate into the College of Arts and Science.

COLUMBIA, Mo. –Patricia Okker, interim dean of the College of Arts and Science at the University of Missouri, today announced that Lael Keiser, professor of public policy and administration, has been appointed director of the Harry S Truman School of Public Affairs at MU, effective Sept. 1. On that date, the Truman School will incorporate into the College of Arts and Science.

The centerpiece of the exhibit is Simon Dinnerstein’s monumental work, The Fulbright Triptych, which New York Times art critic Roberta Smith called a “crackling, obsessive showboat of a painting, dreamed up during a decade when the medium supposedly teetered on the brink of death.”

As the warming planet continues to cause sea levels to rise, new research suggests rising seas eventually could prove detrimental to human health. John Huntley, an assistant professor of paleobiology in the department of geological sciences at MU, has just published his first paper stemming from research he conducted as a senior visiting fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna, Italy, last summer.

Kattesh Katti and his team have developed a non-toxic delivery method using gold nanoparticles that may revolutionize Ayurveda. His technique for producing the nanoparticles recently was licensed by Dhanvantari Nano Ayushadi (DNA), a company base in Tamil Nadu, India.

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Ayurvedic medicine (also called Ayurveda) is one of the world’s oldest medical systems. Originating in India more than 5,000 years ago, this holistic medicine system uses herbal compounds, special diets and other health care practices to augment conventional preventative and disease treatments.

Catherine Rymph, an associate professor of history at MU, has written a book that examines the modern history of foster care in the United States.

In Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, released in 1838, Oliver is an orphan born in a workhouse and sold as an apprentice to an undertaker. He later escapes and joins a gang of young pickpockets, led by elderly ringleader Fagin. Dickens’ tale exposed the cruel treatment of many orphans in London in the mid-19th century.

Assistant Teaching Professor Katina Bitsicas will help students create digital animation projects to convey their eclipse experiences during the Summers @ Mizzou camp in July.

The fact that Columbia, Missouri, is in the path of totality for the August 21st solar eclipse is going to make this year’s Summers @ Mizzou camp a lot more interesting. Camp participants—mostly high school students—will be “Telling the Stories of the Stars” by learning the science behind the solar eclipse and then creating oral stories and digital-animation projects to convey what they have learned.

Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences John Huntley says, "Our work gives new insight into the question of whether or how ecological processes, the daily struggle for life, influence macroevolutionary processes in deep time, which is a significant question still being examined.”

COLUMBIA, Mo. --- The drill holes left in fossil shells by hunters such as snails and slugs show marine predators have grown steadily bigger and more powerful over time but stuck to picking off small prey, rather than using their added heft to pursue larger quarry, new research shows.

The new project will reveal regions of the genome that underlie the natural variation in learning and memory performance in a population of fruit flies.

Learning and memory are traits we inherit from our parents and grandparents. Just like our hair color, our ability to learn and remember is not transmitted unchanged but varies to some degree. But whereas the variations we see in the shade or even highlight of our hair color boils down to small changes in a handful of genes, the variation in our ability to learn and remember is likely the product of tweaks to many more genes, though exactly how many is not known.

A research team led by Candace Galen has developed an inexpensive acoustic listening system using data from small microphones in the field to monitor bees in flight. Photo credit: Melody Kroll, Division of Biological Sciences

COLUMBIA, Mo. – According to recent studies, declines in wild and managed bee populations threaten the pollination of flowers in more than 85 percent of flowering plants and 75 percent of agricultural crops worldwide. Widespread and effective monitoring of bee populations could lead to better management; however, tracking bees is tricky and costly.

Bob Benfer, a professor emeritus of anthropology at MU, says El Volcan is the most mysterious archaeological site he has investigated.

In the 1960s, archaeologists discovered in a valley near coastal Peru an artificial mound or pyramid with a crater in the top. At the time, the researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts dismissed the find as a huge mound with a looters’ pit in the middle. Bob Benfer, a professor emeritus of anthropology at MU, still isn’t sure what the structure is, but he’s certain it’s more than just a vandalized pile of rubble.

Rabia Gregory, an associate professor of religious studies, says a new academic book series she is co-editing will challenge the perception of Christianity as a unified and European religion before the 16th century.

Rabia Gregory, an associate professor of religious studies whose work focuses on late medieval and early modern European religion, says a new academic book series she is co-editing will challenge the perception of Christianity as a unified and European religion before the 16th century.

Two College of Arts and Science faculty members and a graduate student in theater have received awards for instruction in writing-intensive courses. The Campus Writing Program presented the awards to Assistant Teaching Professor Gabriel Fried in the Department of English, Curators Professor of Music Michael Budds, and Department of Theatre graduate student Sarah Senff during a ceremony at the Celebration of Teaching Awards breakfast at the Reynolds Alumni Center.

Emotional Support Animal

Cassie Boness, a graduate student in clinical psychology, conducted a survey to examine what techniques and instruments mental health professionals are using to aid in their determinations of whether certification of an ESA is appropriate. Credit: MU College of Veterinary Medicine

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Service animals help owners navigate daily tasks and often have years of training to help them serve disability-related functions. However, little consensus exists when it comes to the certification of “emotional support animals” (ESAs). These animals usually have little or no specific training, which poses a challenge for mental health professionals who are asked to certify them.